by Glenn Wooden

The Bible Script Hebrew font is excellent. The characters are well-spaced horizontally and vertically. Moreover, there are vowels for wide and narrow letters. This font also provides the undocumented (?) feature of full cantillation. The Greek font is of lesser quality. For example, excess spacing occurs when placing accents and breathings over narrow letters. For Hebrew and Greek an incomplete set of text-critical siglia is included. BibleScript is the only package to include a Greek uncial font and Roman transliteration fonts for Hebrew and Greek. The transliteration fonts are italicized and, for the most part, use the same keys as the companion font. Changing previously entered text from Greek to Roman transliteration, however, is not without minor problems. For example, the capital zeta was not capitalized. A simple conversion from Hebrew font to Roman transliteration is not possible because of the different directions of the languages-macros (for the most popular word processors) providing automatic conversion would be helpful.

Hebrew is entered using a Phonetic layout. An optional Israeli Typewriter layout is available. (The other packages reviewed here more closely match the TLG-CCAT assignment of keys.) The right-to-left utility requires Windows 3.1 running in enhanced mode. It is toggled off and on with Ctrl-Alt-B and the Hebrew font must be selected separately. Because this utility is font-specific it would be better if it automatically invoked the required Hebrew font.

The software is accompanied by a 14 page manual and two, double-sided keyboard layout cards for easy reference. The manual is easy to read with clear instructions on loading the software, running the right-to-left utility, and dealing with some of the problems one might meet.

System Requirements:
Windows 3.1 or later.

Version:
Reviewed: 2.0

Availability:
Commercial software available from publisher.

Quick Summary:
BibleScript can be purchased in two versions. The Hebrew package includes the right-to-left module and three Hebrew fonts. The Biblical Studies package includes fonts for Hebrew (classical and Roman transliteration), Greek (minuscule, uncial and Roman transliteration) and the right-to- left utility. Additional Hebrew typefaces are also available.